Railway-gate



Patented Spt. 27,1898. F. M. CARDERfi. 6.4-. PICKIN'PAUGH.

m i a RAILWAY GATE. plication filed No. amass.

(No Model.)

HPEEF,

NITFD STATES FRANCES M. GARDER AND GEORGE J. PICKINPAUGH, OF UNIONVILLE,.MISSOURI.

RAILWAY-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,353, datedSeptember 27, 1898.

Application filed October 30, 1897.

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANCES M. CARDER and GEORGE J .PIOKINPAUGH,citizens of the United States, residing at Unionville, in the county ofPutnam and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Railway-Gates; and we do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inrailway-tracks, and particularly refers to a railway-gate designed to bemounted at any point in the track and be automatically controlled oroperated, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of ourautomatic railwaygate in its complete operative position. Fig. 2 is adetail side view of the inner face of one of the gate-posts. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal central section of Fig. 1, showing the appearance thereoffrom the opposite side.

In materializing our invention we provide certain details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts to be located in and form part ofthe road-bed of the railway-track. At any point where it is desired tolocate a gate of the character specified, as upon the division-lineseparating a field from the road or carriage way, we locate and suitablyballast a series of transversely-disposed sleepers or beams 1, uponwhich we lay and secure in any preferred way the sleepers or beams 2,disposed parallel with the rails of the roadway. After these parts havebeen thus disposed of and properly embedded in the earth to correspondin height with the remaining section of the track at either end thereofwe secure in position, preferably by hinges 3, track-beams 4:, connectedwith each other by a series of transverselydisposed intermediate pieces5, upon which the track-rails 6 and 7 are mounted in the usual or anypreferred way.

The movable sections or rails 6 may be pivotally or otherwise suitablyattached to the main rail-sections? in order that the free ends 8thereof may be elevated and lowered, as de- Serial No. 656,867. (Nomodel) sired. The track-beams designed to support the rail'sections 6are supported upon their inner ends and normally held in aslightlyelevated position by the spring-supportsf), the free endsthereof being held in pivotal union with each other by the axlelor shaft10. The rail-sections 6 are of sufficient length that the inner endsthereof'will snugly contact or aline with each other when the inner endsof the supporting-platform formed by the beams 4 and cross-sections areforced downward into the same plane with the remaining part of thetrack.

It will be understood that the apertures provided in the ends of thebeams 4 are to be slotted in order that the ends thereof may be readilypressed downward without being obstructed by the shaft 10,- or saidapertures may consist of suitable notches formed directly in the ends ofsaid beams.

The shaft lOis of sufiicient length to extend beyond the track-beams 4into cooperation with the spirally-disposed slots 11, formed upon theinner faces of the gate-posts 12, said posts being rotatabl y mounted inposition by suitable journals 13, located at either end thereof, andtaking into suitable bearings provided for their lowerends in one of thesleepers and into bearings provided for their upper ends formed in theretaining-plate 14, the latter being sustained in position by beingconnected to the anchoring-post 15.

By the construction just described it will be seen that an inclinedplane is provided for the ends of the shaft 10, and as said shaft isnormally held in an elevated position by the springs 9 a downwardpressure upon the track at this point will cause the ends of the shaftto ride downward in the slot 11, and thus instantly force the gates inan open position. It will be further apparent that when the weight isremoved from the track the action of the springs 9 will force the trackupward at this point, incidentally taking with it the shaft 10, the endsof whichwill ride upward in the spiral groove 11 and thus promptly forcethe gates into a closed position.

In order to overcome the tension of the springs 9 and lock the gates inan open position and incidentally leave the track level andunobstructed,we provide the controllinglever 16, pivotally mounted insubstantially the usual manner upon the ratchet-plate 17. Thecontrolling-lever being substantially of the usual construction isprovided with the manually-controlled detent 18, designed to engage oneof the ratchets 19, provided upon the periphery of the plate 17.

The lower end of the lever 16 is connected to the rock-shaft 20 by meansof the link 21, said rock-shaft being suitably connected to one of thesleepers 1 and provided near the central portion of the track with acrank or arm 22,",which provides means for connecting said shaft withone of the cross-pieces 5 by means of the chain 23. By this constructionit will be observed that the upper end of the lever when drawn downwardwill turn the rock-shaft 20 and draw the ends of the track at this pointdownward in the same plane with the remaining portion of the track andincidentally leave the gates in an open position.

It is thought that in practice the hinges 3 may be dispensed with ifsuitable means is provided to hold the beams 4 against longitudinal andlateral movement. This question, however, is one to be determined by thebuilder and does not materially bear upon the merits of our invention.

It will be readily apparent that any suitable form of spring may beemployed for holding the gates in an open position. It will be furtherapparent that any equivalent of the construction set forth may be usedwithout materially departing from the spirit of our invention.

After thus setting forth the construction and advantages the operationof our improved automatic gate may be stated to be as follows: The gatesbeing normally in a closed position and the track at that point beingelevated are ready to be acted upon by the moving train, which ridingupon the railsections 6 from either direction will fore the gates in anopen position out of theway After the train has passed over this seetiorof the track the action of the springs 9 wii force the track-rails atthis point upward ant result in instantly closing the gates, in whiclposition they will remain until the operatior is repeated by a movingtrain oruntil the controlling-lever 16 is manipulated, when, aspreviously set forth, the elevated ends of the rail-sections 6 are drawndownward and locket in such position by the detent 18.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In railway-gates, frames having elevated meeting ends supporting therails, a twoleaved swinging gate, devices connecting each gate-leaf withthe frames and hand-operated means to depress said frames and open thegate and lock the parts in that position, as described and for thepurpose set forth.

2. As an improvement in railway-gates, frames having elevated meetingends supporting the rails, a two-leaved swinging gate, devicesconnecting each gate-leaf with the elevated frames, a crank-arm mountedupon the base supporting said frames, a link attached to said crank-armand an operatinglever pivotally connected to said link whereby saidcrank-arm may be manipulated by said lever and the frames depressed, andsuitable means for holding the lever in an adjusted position,substantially as specified and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANCES M. OARDER. GEORGE J. PIOKINPAUGH. Witnesses:

MARK W. MAIRS, T. L. BASKETT.

